2017 Retrospective

Today, looking back on the year. 100% personal, no particular order. Enjoy!

Keep thine eyes peeled & on this here thread.

United Bible Studies always delivers, and they have been since 2016 in shifting line-ups, as befits a collective. This track, from one of the great A Year In The Country Compilations, represents one side of them.

2017 was a big vaporwave year for me; a strange meta-genre that draws in various musical aesthetics. It’s best known for cheesing nostalgia through retro synths and/or samples, but has since come to encompass a wider range of (electronic) styles. Some of my years favourite releases come from these various musical territories.

Finlii was one of them. Mystic Rhythms & Blue Evening Glass is shimmering, careening set of synth songs that exist somewhere just outside familiarity.

While Avantgarde Music puts out a ton of solid metal every year, Wode’s second album was one of the highlights of 2017. Black metal with a dollop of old school heavy metal in terms of riffage. See if you can resist…

When it comes to (post-)vapor electronics, Dream Catalogue occupies a central place. Besides various album releases, this year saw the coming of the massive CHAOS tetralogy. Four compilations featuring a ton of excellent material. PWYW!

Speaking of, EXOSPHERE is another great conceptual vapor comp that shows the breadth of the scene. Tracks by finlii, 猫 シ Corp., et al. Pay close attention to this superb Yoshimi track that featured in an earlier Cloudscape.

Ambient shouldn’t go missing from this overview. First of all, Jason van Wyk’s two gorgeous albums on Home Normal, of which I’m highlighting ‘Opacity’ here. The perfect balance between piano and electronica.

And an honorable mention for Tobias Hellkvist’s divine ‘Kaskelot’, strictly an older EP, but reissued this year with great new remixes by lovely people like Porya Hatami and Chihei Hatakeyama. Again on Home Normal.

A late discovery, mentioned earlier this week, is Legendry’s ‘Dungeon Crawler’: modern day channeling of the epic fantasy current in heavy metal. Say no more! Plus it’s got a drum solo; those are rare nowadays.

And perhaps an obvious addition, but I *did* enjoy Pallbearer’s latest a whole bunch as well. It is, for lack of a better word, mature. And ends on what is one of the band’s finest tracks to date: “A Plea for Understanding”.

Heading into the darkness. Yoshimi’s ‘Atavism’ on Dream Catalogue was delectable, but don’t forget about the second instalment of ‘Japanese Ghosts’. It’s heavy, it’s noisy, it’s got beats, and those titular ghosts are *present*.

Morgen Wurde took his craft to the next level with an album that can only be described as a detective thriller through the medium of dark jazzy soundscapes. There’s a body, a motive, a murder weapon. Can you piece together what happened?

Lovers of original compositions can always count on polymath Cosmo D. The soundtrack for his latest game The Norwood Suite is another critical hit. Check into the hotel, where the music is jazz through an electronic looking glass.

When unlikely influences merge in one mind, the result can be breathtaking. Joonatan Aaltonen merges his trademark Finnish acoustic neofolk with synth melodies harkening back to fantasy game soundtracks. Right up my alley.

And finally, Andrew Weathers wrote what is probably my favourite song of the year: I Am Left Buried Where I’ve Been. It’s been a source of solace constantly since I first heard it, and the highlight of an already lovely album. <3